Trinidad and Tobago’s Under 15 footballers finished as one of the top scoring teams in the group phase of the Caribbean Football Union Under 15 Youth Cup when they hammered Anguilla 19-0 in the closing Group E match at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on Sunday.
The hosts moved into Tuesday’s quarter finals where they will meet Suriname (third best runner up) That game is carded for the Marvin Lee Stadium (MLS), Centre of Excellence from 6pm.
Other teams into the quarter finals include Jamaica who came away 21-0 winners over British Virgin Islands at the MLS on Sunday to finish with the most amount of goals in the opening phase. The more superior Jamaican outfit will take on Group D winners Martinique at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on Tuesday from 4pm. Before that, Guatemala will face St Vincent and the Grenadines (first best runner up) in the other quarter final game at the HC Crawford from 2pm. Across in Tobago,Group winners Canada will meet Netherlands Antilles ( second best runner up) at the Dwight Yorke Stadium from 6pm.
At the HC Stadium, T&T dominated from start to finish and should have had at least ten more goals to their final tally. The Sunday evening fans got a first goal to celebrate in the 6th minute when good positional play and passing saw skipper Sean De Silva (with goalkeeper Jesse Fullerton on the bench), finding Daniel Joseph on the left and he in turn slipped the ball inside for Brandon Rupert to finish off the move. Rupert celebrated the goal with his teammates and he seemed intent on proving his worth after being dropped from the team in Friday’s win over St Kitts/Nevis for disciplinary reasons. Head coach Ken Elie revealed that the player had failed to turn up on time for a team meeting on Thursday and was subsequently put to sit in the stands as his teammates put six past the saints.
In the 11 th minute, Rupert was at it again, like a man on a mission, collecting on the right of the box and calmly slotting past goalkeeper Yoann Romney. Then two minutes later De Silva crossed for Stephen Chang to volley into the goal from close range.
It was evident from then that the home lads would come away with a handsome win as Hutson Charles, in charge of the team for this match, looked eager to have his players go for goals on the evening.
On 16 minutes, the young faithful from the St Dominic’s Children’s Home, backed by a couple drummers and using the laptop tables in the media section to add more iron to their singing, were off their seats once again when Rupert made a penetrative run on the right and squared for Daniel Joseph to side foot home.
Two minutes later, it was 5-0 as Joseph turned provider this time for Stephon Knox to take his time and slot home from within the six yard box.
Soon after Knox was fouled in the box but De Silva could only manage to hit send his penalty strike against the upright.
It was 6-0 in the 23rd when Knox met a Rupert pass and drilled a low shot into the goal.
Mark Rivers then showed some excellent control on top the box before playing one over for Joseph to finish off for a 7-0 advantage in the 35 th minute.
Three minutes later Knox got his hattrick and in the 39 th minute Leston Paul joined the fun for an 9-0 lead at the interval.
Franz Husbands was introduced at the start of the second half and he wasted no time in making an impact on the scoreline. He made it 10-0 in the 46th minute and Joseph finished a one on one with the goalie in the 55 th. A T&T 11-0 lead at that stage and the Anguillians were now too accustomed with restarting play from the middle.
Rupert’s shot was partially saved by the ‘keeper and Knox ran in to hit in the rebound for his fourth goal of the match in the 58th minute. “We going for twenty” the St Dominic’s kids sang on.
De Silva was orchestrating it again and this time Husbands got his second in the 60th minute. He would complete his hattrick in the 65th minute and surely now, Chad De Freitas, sitting in the stands with a niggling injury, may have been wishing he was on the pitch to add further to two goals in the competition so far.
Knox got a fifth in the 69 th and De Silva had the crowd cheering again when he finally got his first goal, hitting home an indirect free kick from the six yard box after the goalie held a back pass.
Paul scored with a neatly taken left foot shot for a 17-0 lead in the 81st minute and then Husbands got his fourth in the 85th and a fifth item in the 90 th to end the goal spree.
In the earlier game of the double header, Netherlands Antilles came from a goal down to win 2-1 and advance the “quarters”. The Saints opened the scoring in the 20th minute when Alanje Rogers latched on to a pass unmarked on the right and maintained his composure to strike the ball firmly into the left corner of the net. But seven minutes later, the Dutch hit back through Quinten Ammerlaan finished off a neat move on the left by slamming a left footer home for the equalizer. Ammerlaan would be the hero for his team as he scored the eventual winner with a well taken shot from inside the penalty box in the 40 th minute.
T&T line up:
21. Terrance Ramsaroop, 4. Robert Primus, 16.Mark Rivers (6.Brenton Balbosa, 81st), 5.Ryan O’Neil (2.Sheldon Bateau, 81st), 7.Sean DeSilva, 14.Brandon Rupert, 8.Stephon Chang, 13.Jean-Luc Rochford (12. Franz Husbands, 46th), 9.Stephen Knox, 15.Daniel Joseph (Daneil Cyrus, 64th), 18.Leston Paul. Subs not used – 1.Jesse Fullerton, 3, Andell Noray.